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100 Short Life Lesson Quotes for that Wise Words Aesthetic

As we live life we learn many lessons along the way. Some can be painful but fortunately many also help us to grow. If you are looking for short quotes about life lessons then you came to the right place. Both the world and our experiences while living in it have a lot to teach us. Which is exactly what each of the authors of these quotes have learned. We have also included some short sayings about life lessons that no one is sure who said first but are just as amusing and still valuable.

Short Life Lesson Quotes for Instagram

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein

“One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” – Rita Mae Brown

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon

Volcanoes with funny quotes abou tlife lessons by Lennon

“When life gives you lemons, chunk it right back.” ― Bill Watterson

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” ― J.M. Barrie

“Love is like pi – natural, irrational, and very important.” – Lisa Hoffman

“Short cuts make long delays.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

“Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” ― Peyton Mannin

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It is the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.”– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

“Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don’t even notice it.” ― Sakyong Mipham

“Sometimes you get what’s coming around. And sometimes you are what’s coming around.” ― Jim Butcher

“Do not take life too seriously. You never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. “- Forrest Gump

“The score never interested me, only the game. – Mae West

“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.” – Katharine Hepburn

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” ― William Goldman

“And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” – Confucius

“Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl

Mountains with a short funny life lessons quotes by Buhl

“Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.” ― Will Rogers

“Don’t be so humble – you are not that great.” ― Golda Meir

“If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.” ― Steven Wright

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” ― Albert Einstein

“Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.” ― Chili Davis

“If you’re too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“He who laughs last … just didn’t get the joke.” ― Carroll Bryant

“If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?” ― George Carlin

“Plans are invitation to disappointment.” ― Derek Landy

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” ― Allen Saunders

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

“If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.” – Johnny Carson

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain

“Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You’d have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking: Well, at least I’m not dead.” ― Tom Stoppard

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” ― Robert Frost

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Storm clouds with funy lessons learned in life quotes by Vonnegut

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” ― Woody Allen

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss

“Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.” ― Woody Allen

“Life is a first impression. You get one shot at it. Make it everlasting.” – J.R. Rim

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou

“Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is.” – Viggo Mortensen

“Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” —Kate Winslet

“If you want things to change, you need to change and change things.” ― Aiyaz Uddin

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” ― Niels Bohr

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

If you like these, you might also want to check out our other lists of Funny Life Quotes, Sunset Quotes About Life, Life is Good Quotes and Life Changing Quotes.

Funny Quotes on Life Lessons

“If you’re a really mean person you’re going to come back as a fly and eat poop.” – Kurt Cobain

“I believe that the laws of karma do not apply to show business, where good things happen to bad people on a fairly regular basis.” – Chuck Lorre

“I always thought that Mario was kind of the bad guy, because if you know about the game, there was supposed to be a back story where Mario was teasing the ape, and the ape stole his girlfriend, and this was kind of karma for Mario, you know?” – Rich Moore

“To get back my youth, I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.” ― Oscar Wilde

“I’m a very firm believer in karma, and put it this way: I get a lot of good parking spots.” – Al Jourgensen

Sunset with funny quotes on life lessons and karma

“That whore, karma, has finally made her way around, and had just bitch-slapped me right across the face.” – Jennifer Salaiz

“I must have killed a lot of cows in a past life for karma to hate me this much.” – Katie McGarry

“Mark my words; someday she’ll get what’s coming to her. Karma’s a bigger bitch than she is.” – Kathleen Brooks

“I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade… And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party. “ – Ron White

“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.” ― Charles Bukowski

“When you truly understand karma, then you realize you are responsible for everything in your life.” — Keanu Reeves

“The universe does not carry debts. It always returns back to you what you gave it.” ― Drishti Bablani

“Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.” — Elbert Hubbard

“Your believing or not believing in karma has no effect on its existence, nor on its consequences to you. Just as a refusal to believe in the ocean would not prevent you from drowning.” ― F. Paul Wilson,

“Karma bides its time. You will always have to watch out. Karma is unforgiving and always gets payback.” — Benjamin Bayani

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

“I like Aurora, ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ because she’s just sleeping and looking pretty and waiting for boys to kiss her. Sounds like a good life.” – Ariana Grande

“If at first you don’t succeed, quit. When life gives you lemons, quit. When the going gets tough, the tough just quit.” – Jim Rome

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” ― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there.” ― George Harrison

“Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You’d have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking: Well, at least I’m not dead.” ― Tom Stoppard

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’” ― Hunter S. Thompson

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” ― Robert Frost

Ocean waves with a funny wise quotes about life lessons by Frost

“Life is just one small piece of light between two eternal darknesses.” ― Vladimir Nabokov

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” ― Woody Allen

“Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age.” – Jeanne Moreau

“Reality continues to ruin my life.” ― Bill Watterson

“Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.” ― Woody Allen

“When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” ― Lily Tomlin

“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.” – William Hazlitt

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou

“You can’t live an exceptional life by being “normal.”” – Nick Maley

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”—Confucius

“Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” —Kate Winslet

“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.” ― Terry Pratchett

“Life changes very quickly, in a very positive way, if you let it.” – Lindsey Vonn

Inspirational Life Lesson Quotes to Live By

“Life ain’t always beautiful, but it’s a beautiful ride. “-Gary Allan

“If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.” – Johnny Carson

“Do things that make you happy within the confines of the legal system.” ― Ellen DeGeneres

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain

“No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it.” ― Fernando Pessoa

“A learning experience is one of those things that says, ‘You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” ― Douglas Adams

“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” ― Elbert Hubbard

Tree in water with funny inspirational quotes for life lessons by Hubbard

“This life’s hard, but it’s harder if you’re stupid.” ― George V. Higgins

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” ― Will Rogers

“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” ― A. A. Milne

“Life is a first impression. You get one shot at it. Make it everlasting.” – J.R. Rim

“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” — Shawshank Redemption

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.” – Soren Kierkegaard

“Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is.” – Viggo Mortensen

“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry.” – Walter Hagen

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” ― Douglas Adams

“If you want things to change, you need to change and change things.” ― Aiyaz Uddin

“Change and adventurously ride the waves of life… or stay the same and drown in stagnancy. It’s your choice.” ― Steve Maraboli

“I can enjoy anywhere, and I can leave it. Life is about moving on.” ― Waris Dirie

“In my life, I have made the occasional catastrophic choice, and it’s just a case of moving on and learning from it.” ― James Nesbitt

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.” ― Byrd Baggett

“Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass – It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” ― Vivian Greene

“I can relate to having those people in your life that you feel are moving on to this great, big, normal life and you’re like, ‘What’s wrong with me?” ― Kristen Wiig

“Life moves on and so should we.” ― Spencer Johnson

Yellow flowers and hiker with moving on in life quotes by Johnson

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein

“Life is a moving, breathing thing. We have to be willing to constantly evolve. Perfection is constant transformation.” ― Nia Peeples

“Afterall, life goes on.” ― Magicalline

“Mistakes do happen and life goes on.” ― Sourav Ganguly

“Life goes on if you’re one of the lucky ones.” ― Judy Blume

“Things change. Stuff happens. Life goes on.” ― Elizabeth Scott

“Life goes on is a redundancy. Life is defined by its going on.” ― David Levithan

“It’s a wonderful world. You can’t go backwards. You’re always moving forward. It’s the wonderful part about life. And that’s terrific.” ― Harvey Fierstein

“When life gives you lemons, take it. Don’t waste food.” – Giselle Marquez

“When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back… What am I supposed to do with these? I demand to see life’s manager…” – J. K. Simmons

“When life gives you lemons, say, ‘Cool, what else you got?’” ― Carmen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

“When life gives you lemons make lemon meringue pie.” – Colleen Houck

“When life gives you lemons, order the lobster tail.” – Ziad K. Abdelnour

“When life gives you lemons you tell life to get a life because lemons are a terrible gift.” – Patrick Schell

Cut lemons with funny quotes for when life gives you lemons by Schell

“When life gives you lemons, make orange juice and leave the world wondering how you did it.” – Mitch Griego

“When life gives you lemons, learn to juggle.” – James Patterson

“When life gives you lemons, freeze them, and use them to throw at your enemies using some sort of trebuchet.” – Jenny Lawson

“When life gives you lemons, make sure you know whose eyes you need to squeeze them in.” – Colleen Hoover

“When life gives you lemons, you exchange them at the store for something more edible.” – Grace Helbig

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and sell it to all of those who get thirsty from complaining.” – Napoleon Hill

“When life gives you lemons, throw them back.” – Joe Jonas

Cut lemons with when life throws you lemons quotes by Jonas

“When life gives you lemons, go to a taco stand.” – Mariana Zapata

“When life gives you lemons ask it for sugar and water too. Otherwise, your final product would be some acidic lemon juice!” – Priyavrat Gupta

“When life gives you lemons, keep them, cause hey — free lemons.” – Jake Hamilton

“When life gives you lemons, chunk it right back.” – Bill Watterson

“When life gives you lemons…add melted butter, toasted paprika, and dip some lobster in it!” – Stuart J Scesney

“When life gives you lemons, sell them, and buy a pineapple. How to better your life 101.” – Davin Turney

Short Sayings About Life Lessons

“Life is not a fairy tale. You lose your shoe at midnight, you’re drunk.”

“To be old and wise, you need to first be young and stupid.”

“Be perfect? Not today.”

“I wish I were a little kid so I can just take a nap and everyone will be proud of me.”

“Life is like experiments. The more you try, the better you become.”

“When your hands are tight, swearing helps.”

“Somedays you eat salad and work out. Somedays you have cupcakes and pizza. It’s called balance.”

“Between ‘go big or go home’, I choose the latter.“

“One day you’ll be thankful things didn’t work out the way you want them to.”

Sunset with funny sayings about life lessons

“Bad days aren’t always bad. At least you’ll find out who your true friends are. “

“Life is like a roller coaster pic – scary at the moment, funny looking back.”

“Life is like an elevator – Sometimes it stops. But it’ll move up again.”

“Life is like an ice-cream. Enjoy it before it melts.”

“Sometimes life is like your DIY hairstyle. You have to hold it together with one bobby pin.”

“I’m a work in progress without a completion date.”

“Enjoy this donut while you still can, ‘cause tomorrow you might have another one.”

“People will talk about you no matter what you do. So you may just do whatever that makes you happy.”

“Worries don’t change your life. Actions do.”

“Cupcakes are muffins that believe in miracles.”

“Life is like going to a party – dance even when you don’t feel like it.”

“Life is like looking for your phone. Most of the time, it’s in your hand.”

“Life is like trying a Pinterest recipe – it won’t kill you just for missing one step.”

And that’s it for our list of quotes and sayings! We hope you found the perfect one for you.

Now get out there and live life to its fullest.

Woman holding up a clear chunk of ice on the beach

About the Author

Laynni Locke

I am Laynni Locke, a Canadian writer, reader and traveller with a passion for sharing life’s moments on social media. Keeping friends and family in the loop of our lives though photos and videos has become an essential activity for most.

And it doesn’t matter if you are travelling, celebrating a special occasion or just appreciating day-to-day life, when you take that perfect photo you are going to need the perfect caption or quote before you share it. Which is why we started Routinely Shares, providing comprehensive lists of quotes and captions to cover every occasion, adventure or loved one.

With extensive experience as a travel writer, social media specialist and grant writer, I have made it my mission to curate the best and easiest to use lists for your next post.

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